Core communications

By Doug Cox

Significant changes in the financial services industry over the past few years are bringing increased regulatory scrutiny, new compliance policies, and heightened public skepticism. For financial services firms, accelerated recovery and success depend upon customer acquisition, satisfaction, and loyalty. Consequently, every consumer contact presents an opportunity to regain customer trust, reach new markets, and differentiate the firm from its competition.

The ability to successfully implement a comprehensive communication strategy will most likely be the single biggest challenge-and opportunity-for every financial institution over the next few years. Positioning for success in this new market environment is dependent upon having access to the information clients want-and being able to deliver via the channel they prefer-morning, noon, or night via print, electronic, the web, and mobile devices.

Leveraging the power of multichannel campaigns requires having the ability to determine the communication preferences of each client and the solutions in place to deliver compelling content through that channel. However, just as important as communicating through multiple channels is ensuring the delivery of easy-to-understand statements and other communications when doing so. For example, if an individual has a profile that suggests they may be interested in converting to a new retirement plan, the communication solution should have the ability to personalize their next statement with information highlighting the retirement options available and of interest to them. Having the technology in place to access the data an organization already has on its members can ensure the ability to put their needs front and center with every communication sent to them.

There are several common hurdles that all firms face when integrating multichannel communication options with current architecture. The first involves the ability to obtain quality data. Data is often stored in disjointed silos across the enterprise and it can be a challenge to obtain and consolidate useful data about each client. Be sure the communication solution you choose can tap into the broad range of data sources that drive your business, and that the solution makes it easy to merge and consolidate this data.

The next is being able to coordinate and integrate communications across all channels.  For instance, the ability for the next statement run to take advantage of feedback obtained through an e-channel (like email) is a critical aspect of a successful multichannel framework.

The content delivered to a client on their printed statement may be in a completely different format and layout than the content delivered to that same member via a different channel. Because of this, another critical success factor for a multichannel communication solution is creating flexible content that automatically changes to match the delivery channel. Without this kind of flexibility, designing for multiple channels can become a painful and complex process.

Managing content, logic, users and roles, interfaces, and change control practices for a multichannel solution can seem like a daunting task. It involves providing an integrated framework that can leverage critical data across the entire solution. For instance, user roles and permissions should be honored anywhere in the framework. Additionally, the ability to manage content-independent of the documents and channels that receive them-is crucial. Be sure the solution used has these management capabilities, or your organization may be overwhelmed with process and content complexities.

Organizational commitment, accountability, and having the right technology in place for managing the client base across all media channels are the key ingredients to overcoming the challenges and ultimately succeeding when it comes to customer communication management. Multichannel communications are not the wave of the future for financial firms. Your clients are already in control today and their expectations as to how you communicate with them are on the rise. Implementing a well-thought-out customer communication strategy can help ensure retention by getting important information to clients more quickly-and with a personal touch via the channel they prefer. 

About

Doug Cox is the Director of North America Enterprise Business for GMC Software Technology, a provider of document output for customer communication management. GMC Software Technology offers a seamless, easy-to-use, and powerful solution that enables business users to reduce the complexity and costs of customer communication management across business silos. The company's secure, scalable, and reliable solution produces personalized and regulatory compliant communications that can be delivered to members via the channel or choice. He can be reached at d.cox@gmc.net.